One way to make sure that you have a variety of sentences is to start sentences in a variety of ways instead of always starting out with the subject of the sentence. Below are common ways that we can construct COMPLEX sentences by starting them with differing types of words, clauses and phrases.
After reading and reviewing the MyFoundation Lab W2.1 Sentence Structure and W2. 11 Combining Sentences, try your hand at the following:
Below you will find groups of sentence starters. From each category, choose three sentence starters and complete them. (Yes, they are silly). Post your response. (Be sure keep the commas I have here, since all but one group, you will need to add an independent clause).
Beginning with an ADJECTIVE or ADVERB
Paralyzed with fear,
Afraid,
Martian by birth,
Illegally,
Arrogantly,
Instantaneously,
Obviously,
Sample: Paralyzed with fear, the deer could not run when he saw ME in HIS headlights.
Beginning with a PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
Behind door number one,
Just above the sewed-up wound in his chest,
Outside the keg party at the retirement home,
Within his wicked heart,
In addition to her beefed up Facebook profile,
In the warped but intelligent mind of ___________ (add any cartoon character’s name),
Sample: Behind door number one, I found door number two.
Beginning with a PARTICIPIAL PHRASE
Fooled by yet another infomercial,
Jilted by the undeniably vicious kitten,
Eating the filling from the pumpkin pie only,
Enamored with his sugar-coated words,
Humiliated by coming in last at the spelling bee,
Sitting on yet another glazed doughnut,
Sample: Fooled by yet another infomercial, a bald chia pet arrived by FedEx on my doorstep.
Beginning with an INFINITIVE
Sample: To make a delicious pizza,.
To catch a pet iguana gone wild,
To improve on the McDonalds eating experience,
To begin the story about the missing bathtub,
To turn a watermelon into a musical instrument,
To be able to tell you about my previous life as a dolphin,
To find the winning lottery ticket,
To sleep without dreaming of prepositional phrases,
Sample: To make a delicious pizza, I usually call for takeout.
Beginning with a GERUND ( A gerund or gerund phrase is always the subject of the sentence. Thus, when doing these be sure the next word you add is a VERB or VERB PHRASE.
Spinning wildly on the head of a pin
Pouring out the truth like tea from a tea pot
Hearing only adjectives in her finance class
Realizing that she didn’t have a dime but the dime had her
Collecting engine parts and orange peels
Reading cereal boxes and warning labels
Hunting for adjectives
Sample: Spinning wildly on the head of a pin made the presidential candidates too dizzy to attend the debate.
Beginning with a SUBORDINATE (DEPENDENT) CLAUSE
Even though he resembled a “Dancing with the Stars” contestant from season one,
Ever since the day I left my heart in San Francisco,
When he realized he was a character in the Harry Potter books he had been reading,
Because fruit trees don’t grow on the moon,
If the football helmet had seen it coming that day,
After his experience with the rabid ant colony,
Despite having the first name Sea and the middle name Breeze,
Sample: Even though he resembled a “Dancing with the Stars” contestant from season one, his outfit was out of place at Chuck E. Cheese.
